Christian Castration

A significant problem among early Christian men was that many of them castrated themselves because they believed this was what Jesus advocated. This was such a substantial issue that it was the first canon addressed by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.

“If anyone in sickness has been subjected to surgery by physicians, or if he has been made a eunuch by barbarians, this can be considered necessary and therefore such a person may be admitted to the clergy. But if anyone has made himself a eunuch, it is necessary that such a person, even if he is worthy, should be excluded from the clergy, as well as anyone who has intentionally made eunuchs, for this is a wicked deed and unnatural.”

It is peculiar that the canon doesn’t blatantly condemn the practice, but specifically only for those who self-castrte from serving as clergy. It is unclear how pervalent was this act as there are no precise figures or reliable statistics on the percentage of Christians who were castrated prior to the Council of Nicaea. Historical records from that period are limited, and detailed demographic data on specific practices within early Christian communities is generally sparse. Yet, the inclusion of this as the very first canon indicates that it must have been quite a significant issue at the time to warrant explicit condemnation. There must have been enough instances of self-castration, or at least enough concern about the practice, to necessitate a formal statement against it.

But appartly this wasn’t the first time the topic was addressed. About a decade earlier at the Council of Ancyra (314 CE) this was also Canon 1.